August 08, 2009 |

The Baltimore Mariners are set and ready to go for the 2010 season as the three-year franchise is under new management while retaining head coach, Chris Simpson and general manager Greg Justice.
BRIG Group, LLC. now are the new proud owners of the Mariners and is partnered with Dwayne Wells and Kevin Fash, owners of Ryco Associates, Inc. and The Nest.
The Nest is a popular bar and restaurant located at 200 W. Pratt Street in Downtown Baltimore, surrounded by the city’s proud entertainment institutions, 1st Mariner Arena, M&T Bank Stadium and Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Ryco Associates, Inc. a construction powerhouse industry, based in Laurel, Maryland, was founded by Wells and Fash in 1988 and is known for specializing in mechanical contracting for small and mid-size construction jobs, repairs and alteration projects for commercial and government contracts.
Good ownership is tremendous, but having great football minds within a football organization is the key and sustaining the foundation of head coach Chris Simpson and general Greg Justice is the beginning of something special in Baltimore. Both, Simpson and Justice, resigned with the Mariners shortly after the AIFA (American Indoor Football Association) season. The Mariners finished the season with a 9-5 record last season after their inaugural year in 2008, 4-10.
Simpson have coached football on the high school and professional ranks, starting after his first and once stint in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys as a free-agent defensive back. Simpson led his team to the franchise’s first playoff berth, losing to the eventually AIFA champions, the Reading Express. Due to his success, Simpson earned a new contract for the 2010 season. “I am very excited about coming back to Baltimore,” said Simpson. “I love the city and the people here. I believe that we have the best fans in the league and the relationships that have been built over the last three seasons have been a tremendous blessing to me and my family. We have a great ownership group in Dwayne Wells and Kevin Fash and Greg Justice has done an outstanding job as GM. I look forward to working with them in continuing to build this franchise into one of the premier teams in the league.”
Justice joined the club after their inaugural season in 2008 obtaining a unique role, or ‘roles’. Justice was the GM during the week and played in the trenches, as an offensive lineman, on the weekend. A duel role that helped powered the Mariners last season to a contender in one year. Justice is a local guy from Annapolis and played his high school ball at Andover High School in Linthicum. Justice played football around the globe for Team USA football in competitive competitions in Austria, France, Mexico , and England and it opened doors for him to earn workouts from all the professional football sport leagues in North America, af2 (Arena Football League 2), AFL (Arena Football League), CFL (Canadian Football League), and the NFL. “From a football operations standpoint, it means that the strides taken last year to insert the ‘Mariner Way’ and change the culture of indoor football in Baltimore can continue and just keep improving,” said Justice.
The next step is to win the AIFA championship and now that the foundation is laid from the top, everything else with good personnel and, of course, the players can flow down hill. “Success breeds interest and we will aggressively go after talent that we believe will fit into the chemistry of the organization and help take us to the next step of winning playoff games and ultimately the AIFA championship,” said Simpson.